Governor Ben Ayade has charged the leadership and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River state to eradicate lines of division within the party to enable it tackle all challenges.
He said this, Monday, through the state chairman of the party, Alphonsus Eba, during the flag off of the second phase of the party’s membership drive which Eba tagged ‘political evangelism’.
Recall that the party had been embroiled in certain controversies over leadership positions between the old and new members who defected with Governor Ayade last year from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
He said: “The governor wants everyone to put an end to anything called old and new members. Everybody in the APC involved in administration, from the polling unit structure up, must eradicate this line of division.
“We must not give rooms to members of this party who built the house before some of us came to live in, to feel side-lined.
“So in whatever we do, there must be proper balance, equity, fairness and so every member of this party, whether you joined the party before 2014 or you joined on May 20, 2021, are all on equal footing.
“We all have equal rights based on the waiver that has been given by the national office. As it stands, everybody is eligible to contest any election, so the task for you is to return to your unit and people and sell yourself.”
On the second phase of the membership drive, the party chairman said over one million people registered during the first phase of membership drive, describing the success as a motivator for another one million membership target.
On the issue of zoning, which seemed to have pitched some old members against the position of the governor and majority of new members who are advocating the return of power to the southern senatorial district, Eba said there is no confusion as peddled in some quarters.
